After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
